Bonds, Clemens, Schilling snubbed by Hall of Fame voters

LOS ANGELES: Tarnished baseball greats Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens again missed out on the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday as zero candidates for the class of 2021 met the required voting threshold.

Home run record holder Bonds and former New York Yankees ace pitcher Clemens failed to reach the 75% voting tally for a ninth straight year since becoming eligible for a place in Cooperstown.

Bonds and Clemens are both widely believed to have been spurned by Hall of Fame voters because of their association with baseball's steroid era.

Bonds polled 248 votes, to fall well short of the 75% mark with 61.8%, while Clemens had 247 votes (61.6%).

Three-time World Series-winning pitcher Curt Schilling topped the voting with 285 or 71.1% but also fell just short.

Schilling, 54, would normally be considered a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame but has found himself shunned following his involvement in controversies which have seen him accused of racism and intolerance.

More recently, three-time World Series champion Schilling tweeted support for supporters of former President Donald Trump after they stormed the US Capitol earlier this month.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Schilling shared a letter he had sent to the Hall of Fame on Monday in which he requested to be removed from consideration next year -- the final year in which he can be voted into the Hall.

Schilling lambasted his portrayal in the media saying, "the media has created a Curt Schilling that does not and has never existed."

"Even the thought of responding to claims of 'nazi' or 'racist' or any other term so watered down and rendered meaningless by spineless cowards who have never met me makes me ill," Schilling wrote.

Thursday's results marks the first time since 2013 that the Baseball Writers Association of America failed to elect anyone to the Hall of Fame.

The 2020 class -- which includes Derek Jeter and Larry Walker -- will however be granted an induction day at Cooperstown, New York on July 25. The ceremony was postponed last year because of the pandemic.